Uncle Averett Is Cool!

That's what Rhianwen said at the supper table one night (see title). We don't have any idea why! She is so seemingly random sometimes! Another random act: Eating a hole through mommy's grocery list (while mommy was in the stupid self-checkout wondering why when she pressed the green leaf lettuce button the dumb computer said there was no such thing at the store but mommy knew there was b/c she had it in her hands...I hate self-checkout), then entertaining the people behind us by playing peekaboo through the hole at them. And I thought paper would be harmless! I kept wondering what they were laughing about....

Our good friends Allene and Bill came with their 2 girls, Kara and Sadie. We enjoyed dinner and play time with them and breakfast with them and our friends Andy and Charity. Kara even got to go for a spin with Rhianwen in the new bike trailer. What fun :)

Just think happy thoughts!

We tried out the "big pool", a public one, on Saturday afternoon. And much to mommy's surprise, it was uncrowded, and the kids there were well-behaved! We had lots of fun. Then Rhianwen had to play on the playground for a few minutes. She really enjoyed swinging on the bar above the slide, a new discovery for her.

Swinging with daddy was a treat too.

We're reaping the rewards of our garden and God's natural plantings of blackberries. We've enjoyed fresh broccoli, string beans, one ear of corn, and lots of blackberries. The top pic in this post is of Rhianwen smiling with a blackberry in her hand...loves them! I was surprised, b/c blackberries have kind of a tart taste to them.

Bringing in corn.

Mommy had a Dr. appointment on Tuesday where things are progressing a small amount, and Alden seems to still have a great heart beat and still is head down...rocket science...I know. Rhianwen helped mommy sew a cute pillow that matches the curtains in his room...well mostly she just enjoyed tearing apart the stuffing and giving it to mommy to put in the pillow. We're just waiting for his appearance. I predict late, but we'll see!

We're Still Alive

Whew! Wally's birthday and a trip to Grandmama's and Grandaddy's kept mommy away from the computer.

Happy birthday daddy...bright and early. Rhianwen digs the maglites, so did daddy.

We had a KFC dinner at home with some friends. And lemon poppy seed pound cake for dessert.

Wally conducts (just kidding....don't know what he is doing...oh, probably turning off the fan that is threatening to extinguish his candles) as we all sing Happy Birthday. (Please ignore the huge red blob holding the cake. We don't know where she came from...).

Rhianwen and her friend enjoying the festivities.

But the ultimate gift that both Rhianwen and daddy are super excited about:

I told you I'd get one ;) And, we just purchased a helmet for Rhianwen today, so watch out Lance Armstrong.

Then it was on to Grandmama's and Grandaddy's for a week while daddy worked on tiling the kitchen and dining room. Rhianwen had a blast as expected. We started off the weekend by going to Aunt Clara's first bridal shower where Rhianwen enjoyed a gourmet lunch, managed to hide Uncle Brooks' (Clara's fiance) lens cover in a plant, and went pee-pee on the toilet. Rhianwen very conveniently chose this week to up the anti on potty training. Mommy decided we need a little potty for the car. They just don't design rest areas with toddlers in mind. Getting back to the events of the week...We spent many days at the "big pool", she again played for hours with the Fisher Price clubhouse, eating fresh peaches, and enjoyed feeding chickens and a horse. Rhianwen also provided the mealtime entertainment and kept the entire household rolling with laughter. She really enjoyed repeating key phrases of dinner time conversation. Hearing all those big words coming from her was just too much.

Reading with the soon-to- be-wed couple, Clara and Brooks.

Writing with Grandmama.

'Rithmetic with Grandaddy? ...well, no. Grandaddy found a sparrow in the chicken feed and brought it in for Rhianwen to pet.

We fed Dan's horses some carrots. Rhianwen threw hers on the ground, but the horse didn't seem to mind. It's amazing how big horses are. Her head was as big as all of Rhianwen! Rhianwen was a little intimidated by such a big snuffling animal in her face. She refused to pet her. Oh well! She still had fun feeding her.

"Forget the Men in Black! Here comes the Tot in Pink with the big gun!"

Rhianwen had so much fun in the big pool. I think she could learn to swim with a few lessons. Doubt if that'll happen this summer though...just too busy!

Rhianwen learned to kick shoes off. This reminds mommy of the times that mommy and her brothers kicked shoes up on the roof of our house when we were kids. Dad loved it!

Mommy had a nice time too. Quite relaxing. Grandmama sent mommy to get a real pedicure ...the first one ever! It was amazing and my toes are pretty now too :)

A few nights Rhianwen got to say goodnight to daddy on the phone. It was SO adorable to hear her carry on a conversation. It would go something like this:

Daddy: Hi Rhianwen! I miss you.

Rhianwen: Daddy work on floor.

Daddy: Yes! That's right! I'm tiling the floor.

Mommy: Can you tell daddy what you did today?

Rhianwen: Played in big pool, sleeping.

Mommy: What did you feed?

Rhianwen: Horsie caddot.

When we finally got back to our house, Rhianwen took a look at the HUGE mess and said, "Daddy make mess!" Guess she wasn't too impressed with the floor, unlike mommy!

Now that the floor is done, we unpacked the few remaining boxes into the china cabinet and sideboard. These had previously been taking up lots of room in Alden's closet. So, we were able to organize his room today too. For the first time, Rhianwen really felt Alden kicking. She was sitting in my lap while I read a book, and Alden gave a bunch of huge kicks to Rhianwen's back. She turned and laughed and looked at me like I had done something, and I said, "You finally felt baby Alden kicking!" When it happened again, Rhianwen said, "Ha! Baby Alden kicking!" I was so excited b/c I thought we would go through the entire pregnancy without her feeling him inside of mommy.


Checking to see if the bouncy seat still functions. Already, we have the swing swinging, music playing, bouncy seat vibrating, and its music playing...I have a feeling we'll be going through a lot more C and D batteries with Rhianwen around.

Staying Busy

You'd think my friend Heather and I could have come up with this idea for headbands since we were the headband-wearing queens back in the day. But, I must confess, I can't remember if we ever did think of this fashion statement. It's so trekkie too! We were never cool or rich enough to own adidas flops though, but I guess that was more 90's anyway. And Rhi even has that 80's layers look down to an art...bright colors, nonsensical seasonality, and all. We really need a Freaky Friday.

We spent half of last week at Grandma Nanny Kim's and Grandpa's seeing Great Grandpa and Great Grandma. With all of our weekends full in June and the baby coming in July, it seemed best to me to visit sooner than later before too much time flew by. It was a wonderful time. Rhianwen did fabulously with the both of them, although she was a very distracted rambunctious toddler. Almost every one loves seeing babies in nursing homes and rehab places, so her very presence was a treat for the rest of the people there too. I wish I had that talent!

Visiting Great Grandma at lunchtime.

During a visit with Great Grandpa, they decided to move him to a different room, so we had to wait in the hall while they got everything ready. Rhianwen loved watching the birds.

With Great Grandpa in the new room after getting all organized. I think we were all a little tired :)

Once back at home, mommy had yet another checkup where she found out that she couldn't go to that remote island with Grandma Nanny Kim and Grandpa b/c the doctor didn't like the idea of being a 2h ferry-ride and a bit of a drive to the nearest hospital. So, we're going to Grandmama's and Grandaddy's instead while Wally tiles the kitchen and dining room next week.
The weekend was spent at various classes in preparation for Baby Alden's arrival, so Rhianwen spent some time with friends and babysitters and seemed to have a lot of fun without us!

In the garden, we've been enjoying some green beans, blackberries, and peas. I get this really satisfied feeling every time I see Rhianwen's mouth stained with blackberries or when she's popping a pea pod open and eating them raw. Of course, when we cook the green beans and serve them to her, she wants to open those too and picks the little bean seeds out and only eats those. She was doing that before she ever knew that's how you got the peas out.

Now that Rhianwen is bigger and more confident in her climbing and jumping skills, she's realized that she can get out of bed on her own. However, she can't open our doors yet, so often in the mornings, she'll hop out of bed, come to the door, and bang around on it until we get up to let her out. She also has thought of the fact that she can get books and toys anytime she wants to, and one night we had to go in a few times to put her back in bed. Most of the time she just brings them back to bed with her, so it's not a big deal. But one night, it had been going on for about an hour, and I finally asked Wally whether he thought she was still in bed...oh, if only we had a video monitor. He decided she was up to something and went in to check but didn't see her. All of a sudden a little cheerful voice piped up next to him, "Hi!". Wally peered down into the darkness to see Rhianwen lying in her dolls' crib with all of her sock monkeys at her feet. We thought about taking a picture but decided against making a big deal out of it.

This time the sock monkeys are on the bed.

Pools and Showers

I would say the first part of the week had an animal theme to it. We went to Petco to get kitty litter which is of course like a mini excursion to a free zoo. Rhianwen loves it. Her life changing moment was when she got to see a ferret poop. Oh, the wonder. She talked about it at mealtimes for the next 3 days. "Poo poo, ferret!". If only Grandma Nanny Kim could have been there to keep up the conversation (we have this running joke with her that all conversations with her eventually lead to discussions about poop in some form.) Then we saw a bunny rabbit at the bottom of our deck steps eating some tasty grass/weeds. On Wednesday, we went to the Life Sciences Museum and saw owls, alligators, snakes, lemurs, various domestic animals etc. It was so great for Rhianwen to finally see a real owl b/c she hears them out in our woods all the time but hasn't seen one yet.

We also finally found a kiddie pool. We just wanted a boring hard plastic one that will hopefully last a while, be easy to clean, and won't require inflating/deflating. Rhianwen loves it and got in it for the first time on Saturday when Grandma Nanny Kim and Grandmama were here for Baby Alden's shower (it was a shower put on by my shepherding group at church so the only non-local invitees were the grandmas.) We were so glad they both could come! It's always fun to have them both together too, although I think Rhi was a little confused at the lack of the Grandpas.

Grandmama and Grandma Nanny Kim enjoying Rhianwen's pool fun.

The pink bathing suits with hearts and bows and skirt (no Thomas the Tank Engine) :)

Wally was the one who put Rhianwen's suit on, and being a man, he doesn't have much experience with swimsuit straps. He realized that crossing the straps in the back before he put it on was helpful but only after a first round of trial and error. I remember making the same mistake with my own bathing suits when I was young :) Funny. (Oh, and although we are under water restrictions to some extent, we actually aren't b/c we're outside the city and have well water. We still try to conserve though, and have been using rainwater for watering the garden etc.)

Baby Alden's baby shower was lots of fun. Although I have lots of pics, I decided to protect my friends from scrutiny, and am just putting pics of fat me and some decorations. So here's a semi good belly pic for those of you who have been curious.

The fun sheet cake that made everyone's lips and teeth blue...it's a must for a baby boy shower!

We also got to do a baby food tasting contest. It made me realize how babyies actually feel when we put that stuff in their mouth. I mean, I always tasted everything I gave to Rhi before feeding it to her (although we did probably 50/50 Gerber vs. mommy-made), but it's entirely different knowing what it is that you are putting in your mouth as opposed to trying it out with no clue to what it might be.

Once we got home with all the loot, Rhianwen enjoyed reopening all the gifts. Her favorite though was the clown bag with the squeaky nose that you can see in the background of the pic below. It's the first squeaky toy that actually is easy to make squeak unlike any of the infant toys we have that are close to impossible for anyone smaller than an adult to squeak.

Showing Grandmama a Winnie the Pooh bib.

Until Baby Alden comes, his Winnie the Pooh will have to serve as a fill-in in the new double umbrella stroller.

Rhianwen had a mixed time trying to roll that thing around the house. But she begged us to bring it outside for a spin too even though a thunderstorm was blowing in. We took a stroll around the cul-de-sac, and Wally said, "Well if the neighbors didn't know we're expecting, I guess they do now!" I think we'll really enjoy the stroller...it's nicer than just a cheap umbrella...taller, bigger wheels, canopy, cup holders, and side pouches for storage.

Some parting cutisms of Rhi's: We just have one changing table in Baby Alden's room now, so she gets changed in there too. Many times when we go in, she says, "Baby comes, have a nappy nap!" and points to the crib. She's also started kissing mommy's tummy, and at night when Wally prays "We pray that you will keep..." and Rhianwen finishes by saying, "Baby Alden safe in mommy's tummy". I'm also praying that they will really love each other throughout their lives!